Marcus opened his eyes and, for just a moment, thought it was still night outside. He sat up and looked around, quickly realizing his mistake. He was no longer outside. In fact judging by the stone walls he was in some sort of cave. He slowly got to his feet and gave a small sound of surprise when he saw what he had been resting on. An indentation of a trident on the floor seemed to exert an odd sense of power, a cold and deep power. Marcus quickly stepped off the indentation, bumping into a raised stone table of some sort at the Trident's base. Symbols were etched into the stone face of the tablet, and Marcus frowned as he studied them. He touched one that resembled the moon with one finger and the trident on the floor immediately lit up with a brilliant blue light. "Uh, uh, no!" Marcus said, touching the moon again. "No! Turn off!"

When touching the moon had no effect he stepped away from the symbols and held his breath, praying that he had not done anything. He only breathed again when the glowing slowly began to fade from the trident. Marcus clutched his chest and shook his head slowly. "Okay, no more playing with things found in weird caves." He told himself. He scanned the cave, frowning. He didn't remember going to sleep here, in fact the last thing he remembered was falling asleep on the beach. A tunnel seemed to lead out of the chamber and Marcus quickly walked through the hole in the rock. The tunnel led on for a couple dozen meters before it ended with a stone wall. Marcus sighed in disappointment but turned around and walked back to the chamber. He ran a hand along one of the blue pillars that surrounded the trident symbol on the floor, quietly marveling at the coolness of the stone. He stepped back onto the trident symbol and he immediately felt something run across him. He blinked, just once, but in the space of that blink he was no longer where he had been when he closed his eyes. When he opened his eyes he was falling.

It was a very familiar fall, he had seen it a few times before. The Moon Pool cave was unique enough that he couldn't mistake it for another cave. He hit the water with his curse and someone else's shout of confusion in his ears. When he resurfaced he saw three pairs of eyes staring at him in shock. "Uh, hi." Marcus said, smiling at the three of them. "Just dropping by."

"Who are you?" Nixie demanded. It was a simple statement, but in those three words Marcus knew that something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

"Nixie, it's me, Marcus." He answered, his instincts screaming at him that he was in danger. He smiled at them, his brow furrowing. "What are you playing at?"

"Nixie, you know him?" Lyla asked, glaring daggers at the boy.

"I've never seen him before in my life." The brown haired girl said.

"He must be a friend of Zach's." Serena said, her eyes filling with horror. "He managed to get someone else turned into a merman by the Pool."

"Zach didn't do this." Marcus said, frowning now. His eyes widened and then narrowed as he studied the girls. They were different than the girls he knew. They were… younger. Less trusting. He could see that in their eyes.

He suddenly felt something close around him, almost as though something had grabbed onto his very soul. "Come on," Nixie said fiercely. "If we can take his powers now we won't have to worry about him later."

"You what?" Marcus managed, raising his own had and pushing back at the force that grabbed him. "What's going on with you three? It's me! Marcus!"

"We don't know who you are!" Lyla responded, raising her own hand now.

"What do you mean?" Marcus panted. He was becoming strained now as he tried to fight off the magic of two mermaids. If Serena added her magic to their onslaught he knew he would be overwhelmed. "Of course you do! You taught me to swim!"

Serena raised her arm, but Marcus had already had enough. He used the last of his power and pushed away their magic just long enough to disappear beneath the water and swim as fast as he could out of the cave. His mind raced with possibilities on what could be happening, but none of them made sense. What's going on? Why didn't they recognize me? Where's Ondina and Mimi?

He glanced behind him and sighed in relief when he did not see any bubble trails following his own. He shot off towards the mainland, intent on finding someone he knew and having them explain what was happening. He decided that Rita's house was the best option and adjusted his path accordingly. It took him some time, but he found the entrance to the hidden chamber beneath her house and he followed it up to her pool. He pulled himself up on the floor of the grotto and began drying off his tail. He had just finished his task when, to his relief, Rita came down the steps immersed in a book. "Thank goodness." Marcus said at length, startling Rita into dropping her book. He got to his feet and ran a hand through his hair. "You have to help me, Nixie, Lyla, and Serena have lost it they-." His voice cut off when he saw Rita raise her hand.

His eyes widened and he dove behind the couch for cover. "Oh come on!" Marcus snapped. "Not you too! It's me dammit! Marcus!"

"How did you find this place?" Rita demanded. "How do you know about those three?"

"How do I-, Because they introduced themselves to me! And I know about this place because I've been down here before…" For the second time in less than fifteen minutes, Marcus felt something off. The grotto was the same as ever with a massive variety of objects strewn about, but many of the objects were not in the same place they had been when he had been here before last. And other things didn't seem to be here entirely. "Where's Poseidon?" The question had popped out of his mouth before he had given it any thought. He may not have liked the vindictive cat, but it was fun to play with.

"How do you know about my cat?" Rita asked suspiciously.

"Because he got me into trouble before." Marcus said. He very slowly got to his feet, his arms raised above his head. He looked warily to Rita, who had not lowered her arm, and took a steadying breath. "Look, I don't know what's going on here. But I need you to believe me, you know who I am. Or at least you did."

"Are you a friend of Zach's?" Rita asked, slowly lowering his arm. She crossed the room, watching him the entire time, and grabbed a small red box. She walked slowly back over to Marcus and opened the lid. She grabbed a pinch of something inside the tin and blew it into his face.

"Yes." He said, blinking and rubbing his eyes. The powder burned cold against his eyes but it wasn't particularly painful. "But apparently that only pissed off the girls."

"How do you know about this place?" Rita asked again, setting the box down.

"I told you, I've been here before when you gave everyone magic lessons." Marcus told her. "What is going on? Why can't any of you remember me? Where are Mimi, Ondina, Zach, and Evie? I'm sure they'll vouch for me."

"I recognize the name Ondina, but I've never heard of a Mimi. And as for Zach, I don't think that he will do much to help you. And I don't know what a human like Evie has to do with anything."

Marcus did a double take. "I've seen Evie's tail." He said uncertainly. "She's as much of a mermaid as you are."

"I think…" Rita said, sitting down on her couch and folding her arms across her chest. "That perhaps you should do your best to explain what you remember."